Tithes of War
by chodemelon
Summary: His tutors in the Northern Fortress always filled his head with stories of great Nohrian generals & glorious spoils of battle, but after he turned his back on Hoshido & killed one of his countrymen for the first time, he wonders if he is cut out for the realities of war. And yet, war has a way of bringing together people who may have never liked each other, or even met otherwise.
1. You Made Your Choice

(AN) I post trigger warnings, including ones that are not covered by FF's rating system, on a chapter-by-chapter basis, so please PM me if there is something you need me to post warnings for in later chapters. I will include it at the beginning of each chapter- no questions asked.

Content Warnings for this chapter are: vomitting, bloody imagery, and negative depictions of panic attacks/anxiety, and mentions of bare chests

Enjoy, and thanks for reading!

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Mathias did not expect to spend the night dry heaving off of one of the outer walls of his fortress, but so few things in his life seemed to be going according to plan as of late.

' _This may as well fucking happen_ ' he thought as a stream of bile dripped from his mouth into water below.

He leaned his head against the cold stone floor and closed his eyes. Although he had hoped that excusing himself from the buzzing activity of the mess hall would allow him some respite from the guilt plaguing his mind, all he could see behind his closed eyes was the first Hoshidan soldier that he sunk his blade into at Fort Dragonfall.

 _His hand on the hilt of Yato sinking further into the abdomen of the woman in white robes and a battle-worn chest piece. The unsullied cloth slowly spreading into a deep crimson as her shocked face contorted in fear and hatred. His fingers trembling as she gripped the head of his blade in futility_.

Could a blade forged in the image of the Hoshidan royal family turn on its own kin?

' _It can in the hands of a monster_ ' he thought as he opened his eyes and stared at his sore palms.

This was not sparring with Xander until the sun was so low in the sky that both brothers could barely make out the exhausted grins on each others' faces, nor was it pulling punches on a small group of usurpers in a rebellious tribe beyond the watchful eye of Castle Krakenburg. This was the choice that he, alone, had made- and it was only going to get more difficult from here on out.

He could only imagine the pained look of anguish and disappointment in Mitoko's- _in his mother's_ face for a few seconds before he started vomiting again, rejecting what was left of his dinner into the canal.

Suddenly, he heard noises coming from farther down the rampart halls.

"Heh! I must humbly disagree with you my sneaky comrade!" a booming voice echoed somewhere far behind him. "You think you can completely protect our liege from an ambush from the shadows? It. is. an. ambush! The foul miscreants likely put into consideration their surroundings if they have the audacity to assault Lord Leo!"

A lower, and far less enthusiastic voice laughed sarcastically in response.

"Oh please, Odin. If I had a gold piece for every ambush I, myself had been apart of that fell apart because my compatriots had simply neglected to look behind them when they were so focused on their prey, I would be able to retire from this particular line of work and start my own damn noble house."

Mathias wiped the side of his face but did not look up, hoping the two people would not see their commander at the end of the walkway in such a compromising position.

"Ha! Now there is an image for the Record Hall: 'Lord Niles of House Might-have-had-a-last-name-at-some-point now approacheth!" The other one replied.

They sounded like Leo's retainers. He had not talked much to either of them since meeting them in the Ice Tribe Village, but if their reluctance to spare the villagers were any indication, they were not people that would understand Mathias' current fixation on killing a single soldier. At the very least, he did not want the two observing him sweating anxiously and puking in a corner in the middle of the night, for any reason.

He lowered his head again, not feeling well enough yet to sit up completely but aware enough to try and scoot himself further into the corner of the wall, where he hoped he would be out of eyeshot.

Niles' amused snort bounced off the walls. "Catchy. But my point is that there is little you can do to block blows from Lord Leo in that tight little outfit of yours from the front lines, unless you are relying on these so-called miscreants being spellbound by your rippling pectorals. It would work on me, mind you, but again, I've been a part of a number of failed ambushes in my younger years for far stupider reasons."

"Little outfit!? This sacred garb was woven of the finest samite under the cold light of a full moon-"

Odin halted his tirade mid-sentence and Mathias heard a pause before a pair of footsteps grew steadily louder behind him.

 _Shit_.

"Ho there, silhouette of indiscernible yet steadfast ally! Are you feeling entirely well this evening?" Odin called down toward him as he walked in his direction.

Mathias waved a hand over his head dismissively in response and turned away. "I suspect I just had a bit to much to drink at the mess hall, no need to worry...sir," he called back.

The other, quieter pair of footsteps came closer as the blond man in strange, revealing robes kneeled at Mathias' bent over frame in concern.

"Odin, if you're going to play good citizen for the rest of the night, I'm out. I have no stomach for do-goodery at this time of the- _oh my_ …"

Mathias saw another pair of feet in worn leather boots before looking up at Niles, grinning down at him with wicked amusement. The retainer's snowy white hair framed his dark face in wisps, as his singular eye sized the prince up.

"You know, I didn't know that anyone could hear me when I told Odin, here, the other day, that I'd love to see our princeling on his knees in front of me."

He crossed his arms and lowered his head as close to Mathias' face as he could get without actually touching him.

"I guess I'll have to gossip a bit quieter next time, hmm?" he said in a low, silky voice that made Mathias' skin crawl.

"Niles, don't be such an ass," Odin grumbled as he elbowed the other man away. "I apologize for failing to recognize you before, milord. I can help you toward the infirmary if you need assistance."

Odin sounded strangely out of place without his flowery speech patterns, but he had a undeniably soothing presence that seemed almost genetic. Nevertheless, as Xander had often told him, it was unbecoming for a prince to be at the mercy of his troops, regardless of their good intentions. The quicker he could shake the two of them off, the better.

"That's very kind of you Odin, but I'll be fine, thank you. Don't worry about, um, not seeing my face. I'm sure it's hard to see much of anything at this time of the night," Mathias said with a shaky voice.

Niles leaned against a column and narrowed his eye, still smiling to himself.

"Are you sure milord? It would be a simple task to assist you in escorting you, I assure you," Odin urged.

"I have no doubts in your ability to assist me, Odin, but I'm afraid I just had one mead too many after dinner tonight and I'd be a bit embarrassed to go to the apothecary's tent with a hangover in the dead of night," Mathias replied, hoping the waver in his voice could be mistaken for simple intoxication, and not the cold sweat of a panic attack.

"Then let us accompany you to your quarters at the very least, milord," he insisted, and Mathias sighed in defeat. The mage seemed persistent if nothing else, and he admittedly did not currently want to be alone with his thoughts. Camilla had always told him he was lousy at being aloof.

Wordlessly, he lifted his arm and Odin took the gesture, pulling Mathias to his feet and readjusting himself to allow the prince to lean on him as he walked.

Behind them Niles clicked his tongue, following them at a slightly slower pace.

"Keeping the prince all to yourself, Odin? That's awfully selfish of you," He crossed his arms and shook his head slowly. "What would our Lord Leo say if he saw your hands all over his precious brother?"

Before Odin could respond, Mathias raised his head and set his tired eyes on the other retainer. He liked to think that he normally had a much thicker skin, but at the moment, he did not want to play whatever game the outlaw had in mind.

"Niles, is it? I thought that you had no time for do-goodery. I'm sure, then, that you have other, far more pressing matters to attend to then escorting blue bloods in the middle of the night."

Niles raised an eyebrow in mild interest and laughed quietly to himself, "Ah, our princeling has some backbone. Not that I'd be able to tell, the way you're bent over."

Odin looked from Niles to Mathias as they walked, torn between shouting at Niles and helping the prince keep his balance.

"I'm sorry milord, Niles finds the most inappropriate times to flaunt his fixation with the misery of those around him, despite how _poorly_ ," he said with a glare pointed toward Niles, "it reflects on our Lord Leo when he tries to push his luck."

Mathias raised a hand weakly. "It's alright, Odin, I understand, I should have been more direct." he cleared his throat and stared back at the man sauntering behind them. It appeared to Mathias that if he didn't provide Niles with his own strange form of entertainment, the outlaw would make some himself, causing Mathias' already horrible night to be dragged on longer than it had to be

"Niles, I am not in the mood. If you are not here to serve some sort of purpose, please fuck off," he said in a flat tone.

Despite trying to appear as diplomatic as possible, Odin could not stifle a loud snort as Niles' eye widened and his head raised ever so slightly in shock.

Mathias hated to be so rude before he knew why the man tended to act that way, but he was thankful that the two retainers stopped looking at him as though he was going to faint at any moment. Just knowing that helped him feel slightly more in control of himself.

Niles recovered quickly, his face silding quickly back into its resting expression of smug disinterest. Despite this, he still followed the other two, except this time without adding any commentary. It was not unwelcome, but considering that all Mathias knew of his brother's retainer was that he had an affinity for pushing others' buttons, it felt uncharacteristic, or at the very least, not permanent.

The three of them walked in relatively awkward silence until Mathias could see the outline of an oak tree beyond the rooftop of the smithy, the night air blowing the smell of cooled iron to his nose. He swallowed and turned his head away from it, breaking the silence to push thoughts of metal piercing skin from his mind.

"Ah, this is it over here Odin, thank you," Mathias said, and pointed to the treehouse nestled at the edge of one of the castle's inner canals.

"Do you require any help settling in milord? Your humble companion, Odin Dark, will not rest until all valiant tasks have been executed…valiantly," he trailed off.

Mathias shook his head as Odin let go of him.

"That won't be necessary, I'm already feeling a bit better," he paused. "But thank you Odin, if you do not let him know before I do, I will report your good service to Leo."

Mathias did not think that Odin was aware how visibly giddy he became at a small amount of praise, but despite how amusing it was, the pit in his stomach reminded him that he would be best sending the two off in case he relapsed.

"Good night to you Odin."

"Fare thee well milord!," Odin sang with a twinkle in his eye. "May the velvety darkness of night swath you in its fine blankets and whisk you into pleasanter realms than these,"

Mathias opened his mouth to ask Odin to explain what he meant, but thought better of it in his current state, and simply waved.

"Come, Niles. We should leave the good prince to his own pursuits," Odin said, gesturing his head toward the barracks in a very unsubtle fashion.

Until then, the outlaw had been looking around, either lost in thought or pretending to ignore his companions' conversation.

"Hmm? Oh, I'll let you get out most of your moonlit prancing on your own before I have to be seen with you again," Niles said, picking food from between his teeth. Odin looked at the prince and gave Niles a warning look, but decided to drop whatever he was going to say and walked away.

Mathias sighed and looked wearily at the other man.

"Is there anything else Niles? As I said, I am in not in the best of moods and I do wish to retreat to my quarters."

"Oh, I wasn't lying entirely. Whenever he gets a pat on the head or something, Odin prances. A lot. Last time someone complimented his latest battle spell over dinner, he did this ridiculous dance-fighting routine all the way back to the other end of camp. I don't want whoever is on the night patrol seeing me with that, for the second time this week."

He gestured his thumb over his shoulder to distant cries of ' _My aching blood rolls and boils at the utterance of positive feedback_!'

Mathias smiled thinly and made as though he was about to leave. "Well, feel free to stand under here until you feel the distance between 'that'," he said with air quotes, "and yourself, is sufficient. Now if you would excuse me," he said, walking past him.

"You had better learn to like the sight of spilling blood very soon, milord," Niles said behind him.

Mathias turned his head and stared at the one-eyed man.

"I'm…sorry?"

Niles took a knife out from somewhere in his tall boot and started absentmindedly picking at the bark of the tree trunk with it.

"I know the smell of too much liquor on a man's breath when I put my face that close to his, and you, milord, could stand to drink more tonight, if anything."

Mathias felt sweat begin to re-form at the back of his neck as he stood up straight, his expression guarded. It didn't even occur to him that Niles invaded his space earlier to catch him in his white lie, and the fact that Mathias did not figure it out until now made him very nervous.

"...Thank you for not disclosing this to your fellow retainer, although I am slightly concerned that you do not trust me enough to believe my word."

Niles shrugged "Don't take it personally, milord, I don't trust anyone. Besides, Odin already knows I'm an asshole, what good does it do to call you out in front of him?"

"Can I at least trust you not to spread my…aversion to bloodshed to others in the army?"

"You can, I don't know why you would though, I've done very little to earn that trust,"

Niles looked at the prince and saw the panic and humiliation that flashed before his eyes. He laughed.

"Relax, kid. I don't care enough about usurping your authority. Honestly, I think its kind of cute,"

Mathias looked at him in disbelief. "You think its…cute."

"Sure! You may seem untouchable when you dictate the direction of two armies with a single decision, or when your princely presence leads me to make the assumption that I'm set for the hangman's noose because I pissed you off, and hey don't worry about that because I certainly deserve it." Niles shrugged. "But beneath it all, you're just a pedigree kid with too much power for his own good. Watching you squirm when you have to look at the real consequences for your actions at the other end of a sword? Well, its just downright adorable," he said with a crooked grin.

Mathias sighed. "Niles, I'm not going to threaten to have you killed for being annoying while I'm feeling sick. I know you don't trust me, and there is nothing I can do at the moment to change that, but we're allies, alright?"

"Your leniency does you little credit, Lord Mathias, but it is appreciated."

Niles tossed the knife in the air and caught it again, stabbing it against the side of the tree

"No comment on my other accusation then?"

Mathias could feel his panic rising again, the sweat on his back turning cold and clammy. He did not wish for the man to see more of his weakness but he did not know how long he could suppress another wave of anxiety. He clenched a fist behind his back, whitening his knuckles and allowing his nails to dig into the skin of his palm. The sensation would ground him for at least a few more moments.

"No. No comment," he said between gritted teeth and climbed up the treehouse ladder.

"You dirtied your hands before you even made a choice milord," Niles called after him. "If I were you I'd accept that now, or this will be a looooong, hard march."

As Mathias reached the top of the ladder, he saw Niles walk away, chuckling at his own innuendo.

"Sweet dreams," he chimed over his shoulder, waving his hand.

That night, Mathias dreamed of iron and blood, curdled screams echoing from every direction.

* * *

AN: This is cross-posted from AO3, so if you prefer their format or want to read ahead up to chapter four, feel free to use the url on my profile and it will take you there. I will post previously written chapters here once per week b/c it takes a little while to reformat them.

I decided to post this here as well, now that I know FF has an android app which is awesome! I'm always down for constructive criticism so if there's something you think I need to work on, let me know! I did this mostly to keep in the practice of creative writing so I'm always hankering to improve.

Thanks again for reading!


	2. We Move Forward

AN: The only content warning I can think of in this chapter is repeated food mentions, but feel free to let me know if anything needs a warning, I'll happily add it! After I finish editing/reformatting them, I'll have chapters 3 and 4 up from AO3 (they're still there w/ a link on my profile if you want to read them right now).

The current picture for this fic is just a placeholder, I'm probably going to replace it a watercolor I've been procrast- er...working on soon.

Otherwise, thanks for reading and enjoy!

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The next morning Mathias' mouth was dry and his stomach was aggressively growling. He slid out of bed and dragged himself to the mirror on the other side of his bedroom as his normally neat, tapered hair fell in teal locks in front of his face. His sharp red eyes looked back at him, tired and sallow and the old scar across the bridge of his nose felt puckered and numb as he absentmindedly ran his fingers over his face and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. He rolled his shoulders and cracked his neck, feeling the stray threads of last night's nightmares itching at the back of his mind.

Almost exactly on queue, he heard a familiar knock at his door, and Felicia, his chambermaid, bounced through balancing a tray of biscuits and tea.

"Good morning milord! I'm glad to see you're already awake! Also- I'm happy to report that the wheat field Miss Lilith planted in this castle turns over a fresh crop almost every morning-"

"Felicia, its good to see you but are you sure you don't need any help with that tray? It looks a bit heavy," Mathias interrupted. He saw a very familiar scene about to unfold in front of him, and with luck he was hoping he could snap the girl out of her train of thought before she embarrassed herself, without seeming too rude.

"-Which is great! We can make fresh bread every morning, I know you and Lady Elise were worried about having enough food rations to last us through Notre- _uhh woah_!"

Sure enough, Felicia bumped into the side of Mathias' armoire with enough force to rattle the mirror, and she lost her footing. The tray flipped, sending its contents into the air, and Mathias tried unsuccessfully to save yet another tea kettle. It slipped from his grasp and joined the biscuits and other plates on the floor with a loud shattering noise.

Without missing a beat, Mathias started picking up the pieces. He knew from experience that the poor maid would start spilling out a string of self-deprecating apologies soon, and getting started on cleaning the mess would save the both of them a good deal of grief and time.

Felicia had always been ridiculously clumsy, but ever since their last encounter with her sister Flora at the Ice Tribe, her mind seemed to drift more than usual, resulting in a severe decrease in the astral castle's supply of spare dishes in the last few weeks. When Mathias had asked her about it the night they left her village, she had simply rambled on about how relieved she was that they were able to reach a peaceful solution.

"I don't want to imagine a reality where I wouldn't be able to see Flora again," she had said so decisively. "I hesitate to think what would happen if she and Father had taken their betrayal too far."

There was a flash of doubt in her eyes as she said the word "betrayal" and Mathias distinctly remembered that she had appeared to be about to say something else before she had left him that night. Mathias had become very close with Felicia, so seeing her hold her tongue like that almost made him think that she was less afraid of telling Mathias what was on her mind than she was of hearing her own thoughts out loud.

Flora had implied that the nature of their service to him in the Northern Fortress was not what it appeared. Both he Felicia and had been too fearful to unpack up the meaning behind her words when she had stood across the two of them on that frozen lake with anger and regret contorting her gentle face, and her knuckles whitening around a pair of steel daggers.

Mathias cared deeply for the two sisters, particularly Felicia- both had rarely left his side since he could remember being in Nohr and he never truly felt alone while they were there; whether they were chiding him for sleeping in late, or sitting at his bedroom window letting him talk their ears off as one or the other mended a ripped sleeve or a loose button.

He shuddered to think of any reasons why the two of them would serve him aside from simply wanting to become maids for the royal family. Had the Ice Tribe sent them to his father, Garon, against their will? Had they been kidnapped? Flora had alluded as much, and yet Felicia seemed just as surprised as Mathias was to hear her words. Perhaps Flora had wanted it that way, but there was little he could do to ask her while he was moving his small group of forces to Notre Sagesse. Yet another question that the brash trail of that his father's war had left behind in the dust, unanswered.

' _That's unfair_ ,' he thought to himself. 'I never had a chance to hear the whole story from Father- I shouldn't jump to conclusions without having a chance to hear what he has to say.'

Mathias decided to break his train of thought when he noticed that Felicia had started pathetically crawling toward her preferred corner of Mathias' bedroom. He sighed wearily and put a hand on her shoulder.

"C'mon, Felicia. It's not that bad. It's pretty much all cleaned up already- that's way faster than yesterday's right?"

She turned her head and made a long, quiet groaning noise, her ears beet red against the soft pink color of her bangs.

"Felicia, seriously, its no trouble, I was actually meaning to eat at the mess hall from now on, my apologies- I should have told you earlier,"

He had meant to be consoling, but as Felicia started groaning louder returning the slow trek to her preferred self-pity corner, he realized that his words could be taken to mean that he no longer had faith in her serving abilities, which if he was being honest with himself, was not far from the truth.

"It's not what you think!" he said, laughing nervously, "I just thought it was about time that I acquaint myself with our army better instead of holing myself up in this treehouse,"

"Army" was a fairly liberal description of the small band of retainers and outcasts that Mathias had gathered with his sister, Elise, thus far, but they certainly deserved the respect of a full-fledged force from what he had been able to observe in such a short time. They were an…eccentric bunch to say the least, but Mathias had decided after his run-in last night with that flamboyant mage and his sharp-tounged companion that it was likely best for him to get to know his company on a more equal level so they didn't jump to their own conclusions about his qualifications as a commander.

It was unclear whether the one-eyed man was voicing the unspoken opinions of his fellow soldiers or just making his distrust of Mathias' methods known to scare him, but Mathias suspected that he had hard, dirty work ahead of him, and he didn't think he would be equipped to deal with the risk of low morale and distrust among his comrades. At this point, he needed all the support he could get.

That would have to start with his friend currently in fetal position with her back to him. Fortunately, he had known Felicia long enough to know that he could often break her of one of her "states" simply by changing the subject.

"Say, its pretty early- have you even managed to eat yet?" he said, trying to sound as cheerful as possible.

She blinked a few times and frowned.

"No, milord- I usually eat when I'm done serving you," she lowered her head again and started hitting it slowly against the wall.

"At least when I'm _supposed_ to be done serving you,"

"Gods, Felicia, no wonder you can't focus in the mornings, come with me to the mess hall- if it's being useful you're worried about, you'll be far more helpful to me by spending more time with the others to than you would be by melding with the carpet in my room."

She sighed loudly and wiped her nose on her apron, straightening out her dress and checking the insides of her sleeves for the concealed knives she kept at either arm. Felicia was fairly ditzy with regards to housework, but as long as he had known her, the woman had never gone anywhere with him without being fully equipped to strike down anyone who she thought might cause him harm.

"Unless you plan on wrestling with the tea sets they have in the mess hall as well, Felicia, I doubt you'll need those to eat breakfast," he teased her as they walked to the door.

She rolled her eyes and slipped the knife into her palm, deftly flipping it so that the hilt pointed out. Before he could try and grab it, she bonked his forehead with the pommel and concealed it again, smiling sweetly.

"Hey, _ow_! I'm just saying."

"Let me have my knives, or let me have my dignity milord, you can't have both," she rebuked as she opened the treehouse door and started climbing down the ladder.

He knew that this old argument was a losing battle, so he dropped the issue and went down after her.

When they arrived at the mess hall, Mathias was surprised to find that his younger sister, Princess Elise, was sandwiched comfortably between her two burly retainers, Arthur and Effie, at the most crowded table in the room. Somehow he expected that the rest of his siblings would likely have their own routines in the morning. Then again, Elise never seemed to have it in her to learn how to be standoffish like a proper royal. It was one of the things he really liked about spending time with her.

As soon as she looked up and caught his eye, she started waving to him furiously and pointing animatedly to a spot across from her.

He smiled warmly and waved a hand back in recognition as he made his way toward the cook's counter- gesturing at Felicia to secure them a spot near the young Nohrian princess while he fetched a couple of plates. He peered over the bar and heard the clanking of dishes in a washbasin, hoping whomever was still on kitchen duty would be accommodating enough to bring him some food despite his late arrival.

"Good morning!" He called down to the open door. "Two plates of breakfast please, and a pot of tea if there's any still hot back there."

"You're late," a male voice grumbled back from the kitchen.

Mathias waited awkwardly at the counter and drummed his fingers on the wood as he heard rustling- not quite sure if it meant that he was supposed to wait there with his tail between his legs or give up and seek food elsewhere.

"You're lucky I haven't had to do a meal shift in awhile or I wouldn't be feeling so godsdamned charitable," said none other than Niles as he walked out of the kitchen door with two plates of biscuits soaked in gravy. Mild surprise flashed across his eye for a moment as he looked up to see the prince leaning on the other side of the counter.

In place of his usual adventuring gear, Niles was wearing a dirty apron with a thin strip of worn leather holding back as much of his messy white hair that it could manage. On any other person, the look would be quite commonplace, but given the nature of Mathias' only other encounter with the rogue, his rather domestic appearance was kind of amusing to see, almost cute, and put Mathias a bit more at ease than he would have been otherwise speaking with the callous man.

"Yeah, sorry I know I'm a bit tardy, I had some cleaning to do," he said, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Well better late than never, I suppose, milord," he responded with an eye roll as he put the plates down. "And I must say I am so very glad to see you feeling well this morning. Wanted to grace us all with your fresh-eyed face or did your maid finally destroy what was left of your private breakfast stock?" he asked with a patronizing grin.

Mathias laughed nervously and changed the subject, pointing to the biscuits.

"That gravy smells really good, did you make that yourself?"

Niles wiped his hands on the apron.

"Little trick we street rats do to get the last bit of meat out of bones and table scraps. Not much else to it but some flour, which the one thing we seem to have in abundance as of late," Niles said, looking up at the prince as he slid the plates down the table to Mathias' position.

"Thank you, Niles. Though I don't suppose there's any extra meat back there is there?"

He gave the prince the most deadpan look that having one eye would allow him and crossed his muscular, exposed arms, showing the splashes of water and food at the corners of his rolled up sleeves.

"Nope."

"Nothing hot to drink, perhaps?"

"I regret to inform you that you are shit out of luck, _milord_ ," he said and scratched the inside of one of his ears with a free pinky finger. "Though if its sausage you want I still got one left that's nice and hot," he added with a sneer.

"Ha ha, gross. I'll pass for now," Mathias dismissed, but paused before leaving the counter. "I'll uh- make sure that we stock up properly in the next town. Let me know if there's anything in particular that you think is required."

Niles shrugged. "Don't look at me like I know what the rest of these yahoos need, I'd ask someone who looks like they care about teamwork, or whatever, what they think is necessary. Though from the looks of the convoy lately, we can't afford to be picky."

"Er, noted. Well, I'll clean my plate if Felicia and I aren't finished by the time you're done back there,"

Niles turned and headed back into the kitchen, nonchalantly waving a hand in acknowledgement over his shoulder.

Mathias slid into an open space between Felicia, who was chatting amicably with Arthur and Silas, who grinned and waved as he put the plates down. Felicia immediately stopped talking and practically inhaled her food, despite her earlier insistence that she didn't need to eat until later. Mathias chuckled quietly to himself and started on his own plate.

"Gods Felicia, you're going to choke yourself, would you please slow down?" Silas said in concern.

Effie slammed a fist on the wooden table and a few splinters flew loose. Everyone else at the table jumped in surprise.

"Let the girl eat!" she boomed. "We've got a long day of marching ahead- she'll need lots of carbs in order to be properly prepared."

Effie gave Felicia two thumbs up and Felicia looked back at her with her cheeks stuffed with food, reciprocating the gesture before she dug voraciously back into her meal.

When everyone around the mess hall realized the clamor was just Effie placing her hands on furniture again, the low hum of conversation returned, and Mathias looked over to Elise.

"Do you always eat here in the morning? I would have thought that you could get service to your quarters if you needed."

Her long pigtails flopped at her sides as she shook her head, and she swallowed a mouthful of biscuit.

"Naw, that's super boring. I'd rather be here so I can talk to everyone, y'know? Besides, Effie kept having to go back and forth from the mess hall anyway to get herself more helpings the first few days, so we just decided it'd be easier to eat here!"

Elise and Mathias were similar in their need to be around people often, and it occurred to him that if his own retainers weren't so devoted to their jobs as servers, he would have likely come to the same conclusion as his little sister much, much sooner. As it were, Felicia, Flora, and Jakob had always tried to get him as much personal service before the day started as possible, leaving him little real need to speak to anyone else in the morning. Perhaps relying solely on Felicia's ineptitude at the moment was a blessing in disguise, as he was embarrassed to admit to himself that the thought of taking time out of his morning routine to join his troops would not have occurred to him otherwise.

Elise lowered her gaze and put down her fork momentarily while Effie and Arthur were otherwise distracted by other conversations,

"Say, you're doing alright, right big brother?" she said, her large, violet eyes poorly hiding their concern.

Mathias gripped his fork a little tighter and felt his hands become clammy. Had Elise somehow learned about his episode the night before? It didn't appear that Leo's retainers had disclosed anything, but he had no real way of knowing. For now he decided that the best thing to do was just to play dumb.

"Of course I am Elise. I'm a little tired, but so is everyone- why do you ask?"

She furrowed her brow, as if she didn't herself know why she was asking. Perhaps she didn't know after all.

"I don't know it's just…you've just been looking paler and more anxious since you came back to us, like the world could come crashing down on you at any moment. I noticed that Azura wears a similar expression sometimes when she thinks that I'm not looking."

She quickly backtracked.

"Not that you look sick or anything or that I'm not glad to have you back but…" she reached across the table and placed her small hands over his own. They looked delicate, but her palms were much tougher than Mathias remembered, with faint traces of small scars circling around her fingertips. As if she had spent much of her time gripping the hilt of a staff in fear, or hurriedly patching up grisly wounds in the heat of battle.

"You'll let me know if anything is wrong, right? If there's anything you feel like you have to shoulder alone?"

Mathias felt a lump gather in his throat and quickly swallowed it. As far as he was concerned when she would visit him every month or so in the Northern Fortress, Elise was even more sheltered than he was, and her innocence is what fueled her upbeat personality, but how long had she been put on the front lines without him realizing? How many times had she seen a battle turn a fresh-faced soldier into a hardened creature of fear and instinct as her healing staff kept them from the edge of death time and time again, at a time where she was barely old enough to be wandering off on her own? Did she feel like she was going to see the same thing happen to her own brother? Had she already seen it happen to their other siblings?

It made him realize how worthy of respect his younger sister was, and yet it made him feel all the more determined to keep as much from her as possible. The last thing he wanted was to make her worry that the elders in her family would need to be something she needed to look after, especially without Camilla there to braid her hair and whisper sweet nothings to her after long, harsh days and short nights of respite. Mathias did not think he could be that rock for her and also disclose his increasing doubts regarding the morality of their Father's choices.

He placed his hands over hers and squeezed lightly, allowing himself a melancholic smile for a moment before nodding. "I'm fine, Elise, really. But thank you. There's just been…a lot to take in lately is all."

She nodded back knowingly and wrapped up the uneaten half of her biscuit in one of her trademark lacy cloth handkerchiefs.

"If you see Azura on your way back to your quarters, could you give her this?" Elise asked. "She was in the mess hall when I got here and left before most other people arrived. I think she's still a little overwhelmed by all the people here in the mornings,"

"Why don't you give it to her yourself? I'm sure she'd love to know her new sister was thinking of her wellbeing," Mathias responded.

"Would if I could," she said with an exaggerated shake of her head. "Effie keeps insisting that I do stamina training so I stop whining about my feet hurting while we march." She squared her shoulders and puffed out her chest.

"' _Lady Elise. Although I am always honored to carry you over whatever distance you desire, and it is no trouble for me, you need to be strong in both body and mind. I must insist for your own good that you accompany me for my post-post morning routine at the very least_ ,'" she said in a deep, gruff voice that made for an impressively accurate Effie impression.

Mathias laughed and put the wrapped biscuit in the folds of his tunic for safekeeping. He peered into the kitchen, and upon seeing it empty, took both his and Felicia's plates before the maid could try to wash them herself. He said his goodbyes to those still at the table and hopped over the counter, cleaning the remaining dishes before leaving the mess hall through the back kitchen door.

The sun was just starting to fully form over the astral horizon, and the canals glittered brightly with the reflection of the dawn's light. It was so much of a contrast to the windy, cloudy weather constantly swirling around the Northern Fortress, that he suspected that he'd never get used to the feeling of sunlight warming his skin every morning.

His mind flashed to the placidity of the empty stalls in the Hoshidan capital plaza before the majority of its citizens stocked their wares for the day, the cool golden light barely touching the tops of pagoda roofs and edges of grandiose statues. He wondered if his memories of the capital were tiny slivers of his lost childhood, or the few remnants that he remembered before the explosion.

Suddenly he heard someone muttering to themselves behind the building, and Mathias turned to see Odin talking to his outstretched hand with a very concentrated look on his face. He tried not to disturb him, but a stick on the ground gave him away as he walked near the mage and Odin yelped in surprise.

"L-lord Mathias? Uh- er, jubilation! It is a pleasure- nay an HONOR to see you in such good health this morning! You uh…you weren't standing there long were you?" he said scratching the back of his head sheepishly.

Mathias laughed amiably and shook his head. "Thank you Odin, its good to see you too, and no I was just passing through. Sorry to bother you."

"It is no bother, my lord, it fills my dark heart with renewed purpose to see you so ready to lead our fine troops through the fiery pits of hell and back,"

"Just a march to Port Dia today to get some supplies and board a ferry to Notre Sagesse Odin, hopefully no hell will be involved."

"Hmm indeed," Odin said, scratching his chin. "I only pray that the low hum of my aching blood does not draw out the demons of war on our peaceful procession on this fine day. They do find the temptation of tainting the trail of good intentions so hard to resist."

"Sorry, what?"

"Uh, I hope we don't run into trouble on such a nice day."

Mathias hummed in agreement and then remembered the reason he left the kitchen in the first place.

"Say, you didn't happen to see Azura while you were back here, did you?"

"Azura…... _Azura_..…Ah! you speak of that enchanting mistress of few words and many melodies who's presence floats like a drifting specter in and out of the peripheral of all who acknowledge her?"

"Yes, that's the one." For once, Mathias found that he understood at least three-fourths of Odin's sentence, and he was fairly proud of himself for it.

"If only I possessed a fraction of her ethereal mystique," Odin mumbled to himself as he crossed his arms, and turned to Mathias. "I do believe that she was heading toward the water's edge last I caught sight of her, over yonder," he said and raised a pointed finger slowly to his left so that the flaps of his cape flitted dramatically in the morning breeze. Mathias stifled a giggle and started walking in that direction.

"Wait, Lord Mathias!" Odin called behind him and hesitated for a moment as if he was trying figure out how to say something.

"Yes, what is it?"

"Last night after I left, you…did you make it back alright? That is to say, uh, Niles didn't bother you at all did he? He can be a bit off-putting sometimes, particularly around those he doesn't know, but you are Lord Leo's brother and I do hope he treated you with the respect you deserve, or better yet, just left you alone while you were feeling ill. I want to make sure that we are representing our Lord properly, you know?" Odin said, shifting on his feet uncomfortably.

Mathias thought for a second before responding to Odin's concern. Should he say that the rogue gave him something of an undeserved tongue-lashing? Would it be better to deflect the question and say that Niles was an absolute peach every time he talked to him? He doubted anyone who knew Niles, particularly Odin, would believe that.

But for some reason that he couldn't put his finger on, Mathias felt like either writing the outlaw off or ratting him out would mean that he lost. But what? His ego? His need to be liked by the others? Whatever ounce of respect Niles gave him? His small chance at becoming friends with the prickly retainer? He wasn't even sure he wanted the latter based on the way Niles seemed to view him, but Mathias was stubborn with regards to people, and refused to give up just yet.

"No, Niles didn't bother me too much. I'll admit, he may not be the friendliest person in the army, but if my brother trusts him then so do I," he finally said, and he meant it. Though the man in question would probably be disgusted to hear that- he seemed to make a sport of keeping most others around him at arm's length. Nevertheless, he had appeared to have kept his word thus far, and had not disclosed any gossip regarding the real reason behind his state of panic the night prior, making him a steadfast, if not reluctant ally in Mathias' eyes.

Odin look relieved and waved his goodbye before returning to what sounded like his previous monologue.

Sure enough, Mathias found Azura sitting at the docks with her feet dangling in the water, humming a melancholic tune to herself. He wordlessly sat next to her and riffled for the piece of food stashed in his tunic, placing it next to her white dress, which fanned out on the ground around her like rippling waves. He joined her in allowing his gaze to fix itself in front of him, looking at nothing in particular but the sun slowly rising farther above the edge of the far mountains. After a minute or two she picked up the kerchief and unwrapped the biscuit. The corners of her mouth turned slightly upward as she ran her thumb over the embroidered " _E_ " on the top corner of the fabric, and she took a small bite of the food.

"Elise wanted to make sure her new big sister is getting enough to eat in the mornings," Mathias stated. Azura wasn't one for unnecessary words, but Mathias often found that he could't help himself in most conversations. Despite the fact that she rarely replied when he did so, he could tell that she didn't mind. It was refreshing, really, making such swift friends with someone so sparing with their words.

After she finished, she shook out the crumbs from the kerchief and folded it neatly away in her dress, presumably to return to Elise at some later time.

"You're tired," she said without looking at him.

He ran a hand through his hair and put his arms in his lap.

"That obvious, huh? I was going for that perky warlord look today, clearly I missed the mark."

She laughed dryly and leaned back, looking briefly up and down at the side of Mathias' face.

"The longer these days are going on...the farther we go, the more I'm doubting if what we're doing here is really going to save lives," he continued, picking at a bit of loose skin on his thumbnail.

"You have every right to doubt that, Mathias. I don't know if this was the right decision either-"

"Wow, thanks Azura. Good pep talk," he interrupted.

She sighed exasperatedly and turned back to look at the ocean. "Let me finish. You chose a path. I do not know if it was the right one, you don't know, but all we can hope is that moving forward down this road will teach us something that the other path may not have-"

"-with as few people as possible caught in the crossfire, right?"

She nodded. "Exactly. We could likely be having the exact same conversation had you chosen to remain with Hoshido. The only consolation I can give you right now is the knowledge that we do not have all the answers yet, and all we have the power to do now is to keep moving forward until we know the safest way to the end of the road."

"That is the most depressing yet satisfying advice you've given me yet Azura, I'm kind of impressed."

"I try," she said, tilting her head so that Mathias could see a small smile lingering on her lips.

"Lets just hope the answers we find are right ones, not just the ones that will validate our choices," he responded.

"One can hope."

With that, a loud horn rang throughout the castle grounds, signifying the time to start the day's march was approaching.

"Well," Mathias said, standing and brushing himself off. "Duty calls."


	3. A Difficult Request

(AN): Content warnings for this one are Graphic depictions of violence, animal death, blood, swearing, use of misogynistic slurs, a lot of shouting, and a boner joke. I think that's it?

* * *

Silas put his writing charcoal up to his lips and furrowed his brow.

Mathias looked at his friend and scratched his chin. "Hmm that's a good point, I didn't think of that. Oh- maybe I could ask Felicia to do that thing with her ice powers and put them in the cellars. That could work right?"

"I should hope so. In that case, I'll note a butcher's request too. No offense to Lilith and her wheat field, Mathias, but I need meat, and I doubt I'm the only one."

Mathias hummed in agreement and penciled in a note in the margins of the paper.

The two men were sitting on the back of a partially empty supply wagon with a roll of parchment spread over both their laps as the horses at the helm paid them no mind and continued grazing. Others in the army chatted amongst themselves, most of them more than happy for a chance to rest their feet and mingle before they had to proceed through the sleepy port town in an orderly fashion. The midday light from the sun was harsh on the fully-armored troops, but occasionally a crisp sea breeze would reach the outskirts of the town, preventing anyone from outwardly complaining.

Silas tapped the parchment with his stick of charcoal. "What about oil, do we need oil?"

"Shit, Silas, I don't know. What exactly do people use oil for in the first place? Squeaky wheels? Nude wrestling? Cooking?"

Silas shrugged noncommittally. "I don't know either, I'm no quartermaster- I just know that when I was in the training, my captain would always natter on about how if we couldn't manage our stocks enough to account for backup ammo and oil, we wouldn't last two weeks marching."

"I guess add two or three units to the request, but I'm not exactly made of bullions here," Mathias grumbled. "Father provided me with barely enough to get through the mission. Just make sure we're restocked on salves and bandages for now, and prioritize the food. I have no idea how Lilith is able to summon some amenities to the astral plane and not others, but maybe there's a way that we can get more stock within the castle after we're done here."

Silas nodded as he rolled up the parchment, stowing it in his satchel. "I'll take this to the marketplace myself if you need some more rest, I don't think it will take me long."

Mathias shook his head and hopped to his feet. "Thank you Silas, but I'm ready to keep going. We should get as much done as we can before Felicia comes back with news of the ferry."

Silas was about to insist that his friend stay for as long as he could, but he was distracted by a distant shout aimed in their direction.

Both men scanned the horizon looking for the source of the noise, and it repeated itself, closer. Silas looked in the direction of the docks, shielding his eyes from the glare of the midday sun to make out a familiar silhouette.

"Oh speaking of, sounds like Felicia's back already with news of the Notre Sagesse ferry- that was fast," he said with mild surprise.

When Silas saw how fast Felicia was running toward them, however, his brow furrowed in concern. She looked unharmed but disheveled, her pair of silver knives resting at her fingertips.

"Gods, Felicia, what's wrong?" Mathias asked her as soon as she was close enough. A few members of the army behind him turned their heads in interest.

"We've got trouble, Lord Mathias. Hoshidan warships. Three of them," she said between labored breaths as she set her hands on her knees.

Mathias' stomach lurched into his throat and his hands started shaking slightly at his sides, but he controlled himself and nodded apprehensively for her to finish. She looked up at him.

"We have ten minutes at the most before they arrive in the docks. I tried getting the captain of the guard to prevent them from landing but she wouldn't listen to me," her hands clenched around the fabric of her tights. "She said that she wasn't going to risk her mens' lives trying to defend against a force that size. They will not fight with us and there must be...a hundred troops on those ships!"

Mathias heard Elise gasp behind him, attracting the full attention of every person in the small war party. Everyone instinctively turned to Mathias as he processed the meaning of Felicia's report.

Mathias swallowed hard. So soon after the skirmish at Dragonfall, he was cornered yet again. When he looked up from his side, he saw determined faces- some anxious- others eager to spill blood, but all of them looked to him expectantly.

' _Three fucking warships_ ,' He muttered under his breath.

Mathias knew that if he turned back, he could save the lives of many of his comrades, and prevent the townspeople from being caught in the crossfire, but he would be executed by his father for deserting as soon as he stepped foot into Windmire. If he stayed, on the other hand, he could try and prevent the valuable Port from becoming Hoshidan-held territory.

The Nohrian countryside had already been stripped bare by the demands the imperial military had placed on farms within their borders. Mathias did not claim to know much of the logistics of production, but if the cold, harsh climate of the Northern Fortress was any indicator, there was no way that the massive country could be sustained off of the sparse amount of farmable land without constant help from steady trade.

' _If you truly want to help them, if you want your choice to matter, you must face what you turned your back on and fight- regardless of the consequences,_ ' he convinced himself.

He then breathed deeply, slowly drawing Yato from its scabbard.

' _Alright, you can do this_.'

"I look before me," he shouted in a clear voice, and all eyes turned to him. "And I see men and women that spit in the face of danger. I see brave, headstrong bastards who ignore the odds that have stacked against them time and time again because failure is a greater insult to them and to their liege then death itself, and because they know that they are the best that Nohr has to offer. That odds mean nothing to warriors who can, and have defeated them time and time again."

Any whispering among the group subsided and they all waited in silence for him to continue.

"I will not pretend that this path that you have followed me down is an easy one, I respect you all too much to lie to you about the reality of the situation. There are currently three Hoshidan warships minutes away from our location, and dozens of fully armed soldiers waiting to strike a heavy blow to one of Nohr's major merchant port towns.

These Hoshidans have informed the city guard that Dia will not be harmed if they submit peacefully. I respect this approach, but make no mistake- this is Nohrian soil, and any threat to it is to be taken seriously. I ask sincerely then that all of you protect what is rightfully ours in whatever way you can, without killing anyone who steps off that boat,"

"You're fucking kidding, aren't you?" a high voice said from the back of the group. Mathias looked and saw the top of Nyx's head, the small mage scowling in disbelief. Audible murmurs of agreement waved through the crowd as she crossed her arms, waiting for an explanation.

"Look, I know that it's a lot to ask of you all. There is a lot at stake here and we are heavily outnumbered. That being said, if we prove to the Hoshidan forces that Nohr is worthy not simply of fear, but of respect, then perhaps we can stop the risk of further troops from invading and start the first step in ending this war. We are paragons first and defenders second. That is why Elise and myself are calling the shots on these missions, as envoys for progress within and without Nohrian borders. I believe this is the swiftest and most effective way toward peace between our two nations."

" _Foolish_ ," Nyx muttered under hear breath before continuing. "Surely you recall that Nohr invaded Hoshido first, regardless of whether it was for the betterment of both or not? I don't care for politics, but I have to question the naiveté of you judgement, regardless of your presence in the royal family. Do you really think Hoshido will take any gesture from you as anything but an insult at this point? You are not old enough to know when and how this all started- how can you be so sure of yourself?"

Mathias knew that she was right to some extent, but he had very little time to prepare of the invasion, and the clock was steadily ticking. He suspected that he couldn't truly keep his troops from killing anyone, and he could hardly tell them that his reasons for wanting to keep the troops alive were at least partially his own selfish desire to avoid seeing death so soon again.

That was to say nothing of the risk that civilians who could possibly get caught in the crossfire. If word spread that they could have avoided innocent blood being spilled had they simply stepped aside and allowed the Hoshidans to pass, there would surely be riots throughout Nohr and Cheve much worse than their small skirmish in the Ice Tribe.

King Garon was not known for his forgiveness toward civil dissenters.

"No, you're right. I wasn't. But maybe I can be there when it ends," he declared. It was a poor answer, but he had made up his mind. Bickering with his army was only wasting precious time at this point.

"Everyone! Take what you need and hide the wagons out of sight."

He pointed his sword at the mages standing at the back of the group. "Odin- you and Nyx need to reach the docks and activate the defensive fire magics installed in the orbs at the top of the Martello towers there. Please remain safely inside to await further orders, I will eventually meet you there with Azura to help keep them secure. Look for me to give the signal from the end of the pier. After that, fire at your discretion."

"Understood milord! We shall roast them in a gout of fiery hell-flame! Er.. gently of course," Odin yelled and ran off toward the docks.

Nyx inhaled and raised a hand, as if she was about to object, but pursed her thin lips under the sheer veil covering her face and followed behind Odin.

Mathias turned to Elise's retainers. "Arthur, Effie- you will cover Azura and myself to the rear as we near the docks. I need you to be ready to defend, should the Hoshidans fire first. Elise will follow several paces behind you, to put you both at ease, but to allow her to heal anyone if needed."

Elise saluted her brother cheerfully and took a handful of staves and poultices for her horse's saddlebag before Mozu started wheeling away the cart. Arthur and Effie nodded their head in unison as they readied their weapons, ready to spring into action.

"Silas after you're done stocking and stowing away the equipment, you and Mozu should take your horse through the town to ensure that all civilians are out of the way of any possible altercations. After that, meet up with Felicia and Niles and do what they tell you."

"Right! Mozu- please let me help you with that cart!" Silas shouted and chased after Mozu- the lanky, yet deceptively strong farm girl lifting the wagon effortlessly as she waited for the others to get whatever supplies they needed from the back of the cart.

"Which brings me to you two,"

Felicia ran up to Mathias and stood at full attention. Upon hearing his name, Niles finished stringing his bow from under a tree and sauntered over to Felicia's position.

"Oooh, special assignment? I'm all yours, milord," he said, grinning like a madman and elbowing Felicia playfully in the side. She shot him a scornful look and returned her attention toward the prince.

"I need you two to go into the town and split up, scouting out as many effective choke points as you can before meeting with Silas and Mozu. Mark the ones farther away so that one of us can recognize it should we need to fall back. Mozu and Silas will guard the most important choke point you scope out, so you should find a place near one of the choke points to keep to the shadows and strike anyone coming through from a ranged position. Any questions?"

Niles raised his hand, "Yes, milord, I have one. Could you say 'choke point' one more time but in a lower voice? I'm already at half mast and-"

"MOVE OUT!" Mathias shouted, interrupting the retainer as Felicia elbowed Niles back violently in the ribs. He coughed, covering his laugh, but dutifully darted off- silent as a cat on the prowl. Felicia followed after him, shouting any expletives at him that she knew, which admittedly, were not many. Mathias rolled his eyes and looked back at the town.

An unsettling quiet fell around Mathias as the two left earshot, a southward wind gently blowing the stray hairs back from his face. From where he was, Mathias could not yet see the Hoshidan ships on the sea's horizon and for a brief moment, he could pretend that the quiet surrounding the port town was placidity- not anticipation.

A hand on his shoulder brought him back to reality, and he turned to see a resolved expression on Azura's face, broken only by a hard concern reflected in her golden eyes. He didn't bother smiling at Azura- by now he knew that she was far too perceptive to believe any facade he could muster.

"Are you afraid?" Mathias asked quietly.

She opened her mouth once or twice, but was unable to find something to say.

"I am. Anankos willing I did not just send these people to the slaughter today,"

Azura flinched at the mention of Anankos, but Mathias did not seem to notice. He was looking back at Arthur and Effie meticulously assisting Elise with equipping her battle armor. Elise briefly made eye contact with her brother and gave him a thumbs up. He reciprocated, but his face noticeably darkened as soon as he turned far enough back to an angle out of his sister's eyeshot.

"With luck, the ships will be occupied with nothing but foot soldiers, which may give us a fighting chance. I'm not as afraid for our lives but…"

She hesitated before continuing.

"I am afraid of who we may see leading the troops."

Mathias nodded grimly, strangely comforted by the thought that Azura could be as scared to fight as he was, if not for her own reasons.

"Milord!" Effie shouted behind him. Both of them startled slightly at the break in silence that had fallen between them.

"Yes, Effie, what is your report?" Mathias said with confidence, pushing away any residual apprehension left in his voice.

"Silas and Mozu have finished stowing away our supplies, and Lady Elise, Arthur, and myself are prepared to follow you at your command."

"Thank you Effie, let us be off then."

A flock of sea gulls passed overhead, flying away from the docks. Mathias sighed quietly and started leading the five of them in the direction the birds fled from, preparing himself for the worst.

* * *

Mathias stood the middle of the town square as the shapes on the water grew larger and larger. Arthur and Effie stood on either side of Azura and himself, both of them crouched and ready to attack, as Elise steadied her horse behind them, its hooves clicking nervously on the cobblestone.

He held up a hand behind him as the first, and largest ship pulled into the central dock. Although he could not see who was at the helm, he heard the shuffle of soldiers from his position, and kept his hand raised to catch the attention of whoever was at the front of the ship.

"Honorable people of Hoshido!" he called to the ship. "You are about to step onto Nohrian land. If you do not wish to face the consequences of intruding unannounced, then I will give you my word as a royal prince of Nohr that you will be allowed to turn back completely unharmed. If you do not heed my warning, we will have no choice but to prevent you from proceeding any further."

The last of his words echoed on the walls of the shuttered-up seaside buildings and heavy silence once again fell upon the square. At his side, Azura tightened her grip on her spear in hesitation and looked to either side of her as the other two ships pulled into the pier. They creaked to a halt and made no further movement.

Suddenly, he ducked out of the way as an arrow of piercing light narrowly missed his head, leaving a tiny cut on the edge of his pointed ear.

" _FIRE AT WILL_!" Mathias screamed with the Yato pointed forward, barely collected enough to give his signal. However, before he could lower his sword, a flurry of fireballs whirred above his head from the Martello towers behind him, exploding on the sides of two of the docked ships. A large number of troops screeched as the impact threw them off the decks, and into the murky water below.

Mathias' heart sank as the ships let loose their landing walkways with a thud. Despite their initial attack, a massive amount of soldiers spilled onto the pier from all sides and several sky knights took flight above them.

Effie jumped and rolled, catching a javelin midair meant for Elise, and Arthur instinctually ran to his liege's side. She roared a battle cry and snapped the heavy wooden weapon in two, splinters scattering in every direction like shrapnel.

"Lord Mathias!" Effie roared over the growing sounds of battle. "We need to get all the ground units under cover- there are too many to face head-on out here!"

"R-Right! Take Elise and go toward the town! Azura and I will go to the towers," Mathias managed to bark out.

Effie grunted in acknowledgment and ran to meet up with Arthur.

Mathias and Azura had been cornered back to back against a spear fighter and a samurai who had each jumped off the front of the two side ships respectively. Azura's face washed over with recognition and realization, and she held her spear close to herself in a practiced defensive position.

The spear fighter looked briefly at Azura with surprise, but snarled when she saw Mathias, lunging at him with enough force to send him several steps back as he barely blocked her onslaught.

"Traitorous filth!" she bellowed, her face contorted in a wild, demon-like expression. He regained his footing and returned her attack, but she deflected with the neck of her spear. His Yato left a chip in the wood of the shaft, but otherwise did not appear to gain him an advantage.

"You dare speak of honor?! You, who tore our royal family apart not once, but twice?"

She swiped the spear at his head and spun it around. He narrowly dodged the blade, but was hit in the side of his head by the hilt of the spear, his ears ringing as he fell to the ground. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Azura dancing out of the way of the samurai's sword strikes with increased strain.

"You do not deserve an honorable death. If you want to die a Nohrian dog instead of a Hoshidan prince, then so be it!" she raised the spear above him and he desperately shielded his face.

Before she struck the blow, however, he heard a deafening roar and the woman instinctively turned to find the source of the noise. He took advantage of the opening and rolled to the side, slashing up her torso and cutting the rope fastener on her chest piece in two. She howled in pain, clutching her stomach as her protective tunic fell to the ground. Her bright orange robes started flowering red around her forearm and she propped herself up with the spear using her other arm. Before she could try to recover and strike again, Mathias started running to Azura's aid, but was interrupted by a peal of thunder catching the samurai in the chest.

"Hinata! Shit- no, get up we can't fall back yet!" the spear fighter screamed to the figure collapsed on the ground. His eyes rolled back and his spine arched with the pain of lightning magic overloading his nerves.

As she weakly signaled for a healer, a massive black wyvern swooped above all of them and a deep, silky voice started laughing. Mathias' eyes shot up toward the sky recognizing the sound and he cried out with happiness upon seeing whom his savior was.

"Camilla! Thank the Gods you're here!"

The wyvern spun around and flew back toward her brother's position.

"Don't thank me yet darling!" she called down as she struck another soldier with a magic attack. "We've still got plenty of insects to pick off before we're safe."

"Camilla, wait! Try to just incapacitate them! Don't kill anyone, not even the ones Azura and I were fighting!" he called back to her flailing his arms wildly.

"What? Are you out of your godsdamned mind, Mathias?! We're in no position to spare these intruding scum," Camilla yelled, pulling on the reins of her wyvern to dodge an incoming arrow.

"Just trust me on this- please, I'm begging you!" Mathias cried out, fighting back tears.

"Oh my. I can't say no to that face," Camilla cooed softly to herself. She flew up higher and whistled sharply through her teeth. Almost instantly, another wyvern flew to her side, a small, short haired woman steering the beast as another woman with long pigtails sat behind her.

"You heard the man, my darling retainers. No killing- yet," Camilla called to them.

"I will leave them within an inch of their lives, my lady," the short haired one said coldly.

"Seriously?! Ugh, whatever, at least its a real challenge for once. Beruka- lower me already so I can trounce these motherfuckers, would you?" the other one barked.

Her wyvern flew dangerously close to the ground and the woman with pigtails flipped backward off its tail with a practiced swagger. She landed deftly on the dock and kicked an incoming archer in the chest, knocking him into the water before drawing her sword and plunging head-first into the flurry of combat happening all around them.

The other woman, Beruka, flew swiftly back up and flung two throwing axes in either direction, hitting one sky knight's pegasus in the shoulder, and clipping the wings of another's. Both riders were kicked off their steeds and spiraled toward the water, their pegasi falling to the ground with a sickening crunch as their necks snapped.

Beruka's mount landed between the two writhing animals and she hopped off its back, pulling her axes out of the bodies with a blank expression on her face. As she walked back, she swiped one of the axes across the face of a shrine maiden running to help a wounded samurai without so much as looking at her, and jumped back on her wyvern. The woman clawed at her bleeding face, dropping to her knees and letting go of her healing staff.

Mathias felt his knees go weak and he looked up to his sister's retainer in horror.

"They'll all live. Probably." she said curtly and flew off.

He felt bile start to collect in his mouth swallowed, realizing that he had lost Azura at some point.

' _I'll just have to hope she made it and keep going. I just have to keep going_.'

He found a break in the line of soldiers and sprinted as fast as he could, dodging aerial attacks and pushing aside troops with forceful swipes of the Yato, trying desperately to get through without outright killing anyone in his way. He was almost at the tower when a row of samurai blocked his path in the distance. Though he was prepared to skirt around the blockade, he lowered his sword in shock as a single man walked through the middle of the line.

His own brother, Takumi, looked straight at him with immeasurable hatred in his eyes. He raised a golden bow that illuminated with blue light to form a thin bowstring.

"You abandoned your family, and Hoshido," the Hoshidan prince growled, and pulled the string as a familiar arrow formed at his fingers. Mathias stood paralyzed in fear and anguish as his brother drew the bow all the way back, the glow from the weapon reflecting the hard rage on his delicate features.

"Now pay for your betrayal!" he bellowed, and released the string.

" _Get down, you dumbass!_ " a voice shouted from around the corner and yanked Mathias by his cape.

The arrow pierced an exposed area of his shoulder and he hit the floor of an alley, the Yato clattering on the stone next to him. Niles, of all people, raised his hand and held a finger to his lip as Mathias was about to cry out in pain. He took Mathias' sword and pointed ahead down a dank alley.

With little choice, Mathias followed Niles as quickly and quietly as he could muster, the searing pain of Takumi's arrow burning into the flesh of his shoulder. His vision blurred in and out of focus as they traversed through the narrow streets, the evening sun too low to touch the ground in front of them. After what seemed like ages, Niles finally tipped his head toward a stack of crates and placed the sword next to him, satisfied that Takumi's troops would not be able to find them so deep in unfamiliar territory. It also meant, however, that Mathias would also not be able to find Elise to properly heal him in his current disposition.

Mathias slid onto the ground, propping himself up on the side of the crate as he struggled to pull a vulnerary out of his armor with a shaky hand. Niles stood near him with his arms crossed, and he could feel a scornful eye looking down at him impatiently. Mathias lost his grip of the bottle and swore under his breath as it bounced to the floor and rolled next to his feet.

"Ugh. Fuck this, I'll be here all night," Niles groaned and used his boot knife to rip the sleeve off of Mathias' shoulder. His pale skin was broken by a deep, piercing gash left from the Fujin Yumi's arrow, and was severely burned by its white-hot energy before it had dissolved into the air.

Niles clicked his tongue as he tore the sleeve into strips.

"Well, milord, I have some great news, and I have some good news- which would you like to hear first?"

Mathias leaned his head on the side of the crate and let out a choked laugh, trying to take his mind off the cocktail of pain, adrenaline, and residual fear that was coursing though his veins.

"Well, I'm a captive audience here- hit me with the great news."

Niles retrieved the vulnerary that had rolled away and rubbed some salve on the cloth, tying them all together to make a single, long strip.

"The great news is that whatever kind of Hoshidan magic your friend's bow seems to use, has completely cauterized your ouchie there. You won't bleed to death in a dirty alley, and you won't get a long, slow infection over a number off weeks."

"Wonderful," Mathias said dryly. "Best news I've heard all day. Now what's the good news."

"The good news is that weird arrow created a much larger hole in you than one of, say, my own brand might. So no matter how gently or roughly I treat this, it will hurt like a bitch all the same." Niles grinned widely as he used two fingers to spread vulnerary salve directly onto the injury.

Mathias stifled a cry and dug his nails into the stone floor.

"You'll have to excuse me if I don't immediately take that as good news," he spat, trying to keep a level voice.

"Oh excuse me," Niles tied one end of his makeshift bandage to Mathias' upper arm and started wrapping it snugly around his shoulder. "I meant good news for me."

"You're such. An asshole," he hissed through clenched teeth as Niles deftly finished wrapping the exposed shoulder in his makeshift gauze. The outlaw laughed at the remark, making no effort to hide his amusement with the prince's pain.

Mathias wiped the cold sweat off his brow with his free arm and caught his breath, looking back at the retainer wiping his ointment-stained hands on Mathias' cloak. Now that he was not blinded by pain, he realized that he owed the man a huge debt of gratitude

"I...can't thank you enough, Niles. You really saved me."

Niles snorted at Mathias' words of appreciation and rose to his feet. "That's an interesting way to respond to someone causing you incredible pain. I suspected you were a weirdo the moment I first met you." He tossed the empty vulnerary jar behind his shoulder. "Besides, I'm only saving my own hide here. Can't have you writing my salary bonus with your arm burned off."

"Hey, you could have had that arm write it with my skull charred out, but that didn't stop you from saving my life," Mathias replied with a grin as he picked up Yato with his good side and hoisted himself up.

Niles smirked despite himself but quickly sneered to cloak it. "I'd argue you already have- standing like a damn target dummy in front of an entire blockade. Why you were tasked with getting to the Rainbow Sage, and Lord Leo was not, is something I cannot even begin to fathom," he scoffed.

"Well, I wouldn't have gotten far if you weren't here today- so thanks. Really." Mathias confessed, a wide smile of appreciation spread across his face.

"Oh please. Excuse me while I vomit. Now that I can't see your face wracked with agony anymore, this conversation is no longer interesting to me." Niles retorted as he curled his lip in disgust. "Mozu and Silas are two lefts and a right from the end of this alley. Go get them to babysit you instead. Your little mishaps have wasted enough of my time."

Before waiting for an answer, he briskly walked away, climbing up a building facing the docks, kicking down a boarded-up window, and disappearing into the shadows as he drew his bow. Mathias chuckled to himself and shook his head as he observed the outlaw's handiwork. The arm would definitely need a healing staff as soon as possible, but the first aid would allow him to push through the night to lead his troops. Suddenly, a Hoshidan retreat signal rang through the town and Mathias shot his head up, sprinting off in the direction Niles had pointed him in. The friction of his running stride pushed against and stretched his wound, causing him to wince with every footfall.

As he came to an opening into the square, he spotted Mozu and Silas panting heavily with scratches and blood spatters covering their armor.

Mozu spotted him first and her tired face brightened up immediately.

"Lord Mathias! Ya made it! We been trying to push 'em back fer hours and I think they're finally pulling back!"

He saw a group of samurai running up the ship's walkway by someone standing at the front of the largest ship. Behind them, he recognized the limp figures of the man and woman from before being carried away hurriedly.

The open area was littered with broken weapons, unresponsive soldiers, and war steeds alike. Out of the corner of his eye, Mathias could see his sister's wyvern ripping the head off of a dead pegasus and swallowing it whole.

"Mozu, Silas, come with me," he ordered swiftly, and he ran toward the ship. The two looked at each other apprehensively but obeyed his orders. As he stopped at the end of the pier, a group of Hoshidans that seemed to be the least injured of the group raised their weapons, creating a wall between him and the ship. He looked past them at the man standing on the deck panting with exhaustion and anger.

"Takumi!"

His shout rang out and faded. His brother clenched his fists at the sound of his name, but refused to turn and look at him.

"Takumi- don't you dare leave without taking the rest of your wounded with you!" Mathias yelled. A few of the Hoshidans looked at each other in confusion.

He laughed humorlessly and finally turned, his eyes red and streaked with tears. The Hoshidan prince would not soon forget this humiliating defeat.

"You expect me to fall for a dirty Nohrian trick like that, brother? I always knew that you took me for a fool."

Mathias sighed exasperatedly, sadness and pain marring his features.

"Takumi, I'm serious- you can still save the rest of your soldiers if you take them with you, but you need to hurry while they can still be healed."

Takumi stood unmoving, looking between his battered army and the man he loathed, unsure of what to do.

"Fine. You don't believe me. I understand- you're within your rights not to trust me after...everything that has happened."

Mathias bent down and placed the Yato in front of him and stood back up, gesturing to the rest of his army within sight to put down their weapons as well. Mozu and Silas were the first to do so, but did not leave Mathias' side, both looking at him uneasily.

Slowly but surely, the rest of his troops left their hiding places and placed their weapons on the ground, some looking none too pleased to be doing so.

Camilla flew to Mathias' side and slid off her wyvern, crossing her arms indignantly.

"Must we lower ourselves so much, dear?," she hissed in his ear. "They should be grateful we don't slaughter that prince whelping on the spot after he has the gall to attack the Nohrian royal family directly. The rest of those excuses for soldiers deserve to bleed out if they are too weak to protect their pathetic prince," she scoffed and pushed some wavy lavender hair away from her face. Her expression was stonier and more frightening then anything she had displayed when they would spend their days together in the Northern Fortress.

This Camilla was one that she had always hid from Mathias. The Camilla that had made herself into a predator before she could become the prey, and reveled in her role. He could only hope that the Camilla that cared for her family more than her own life would listen to him instead.

"Camilla- Hoshido may be our enemy, but Takumi's anger is justified. Besides, no one on that ship can do us any harm without endangering themselves or acting dishonorably, can't we just let them leave with their dignity and take our victory in stride?" he placed a hand on her black gloved arm and met her eyes, which stood a few inches taller than his own.

She considered his words for a moment and sighed disappointedly, dropping the massive axe strapped to her back. It landed with a thud and she put her hands on her hips as she scowled.

"And the tome as well, please."

She laughed quietly and dropped the tome concealed at her hip with an amiable look of defeat on her face.

"I'm sorry, darling, you seem to know me too well don't you?"

He squeezed her arm in thanks and returned his attention to the ship.

"Perhaps you should not claim to know all there is about Nohrians, Takumi." he called up. "Please, retrieve your wounded- I can't control what might happen to them if they stay captive here- I have little authority over Nohr's war prisons. But I can guarantee you safe passage if you take my offer and leave immediately."

Takumi's eyes wavered for a moment before he finally accepted his loss, motioning with his head to the samurai surrounding the ship. Wordlessly, they ran into the crowd and carried out severely injured and unconscious Hoshidans by the dozen. The sounds of labored breathing and weak gurgles of pain surrounded Mathias on either side, and he dared not look at the faces that he cut down not minutes before. Around the Hoshidans, Mathias' troops stood stiffly by- looking like any of them might lunge for their weapons at any moment, should someone make a wrong move.

The last soldier boarded the ship, and Mathias felt his stomach churn as he saw at least ten bodies that weren't retrieved, likely not worth saving.

"This doesn't change anything, Mathias!" Takumi shouted from his perch. "Nothing you do now can make up for what you did to tear apart your true family. Your actions will always be a stain on the proud history of Hoshido. Know this, and live with the shame of what you've done."

The sound of creaking ship hulls filled the evening air and one by one, the anchors were raised onto each ship as they started moving slowly away from the docks.

Mathias let loose a breath he did not know he was holding and kneeled to pick up the Yato laying next to him.

"Don't pay him any mind dear, he's clearly got some issues." Camilla said, helping her younger brother back to his feet.

The rest of the group started helping each other retrieve their weapons from the ground and low chatter broke the silence left by Takumi's last words. Elise started running between people, checking their vitals and repairing any gashes or bruises. Some looked more haggard than others, but no one appeared to be irreparably injured. To them, this was a routine- something that became less terrifying the more frequently they faced the constant threat of death. It was completely foreign to the prince, who could still hear the echoing screams of agony from the spear fighter in the orange robes ringing in the back of his ears, and felt the throbbing needles of pain from his brother's arrow.

"I thought we were supposed to head to the towers?" Azura walked over to him, her shimmering white dress stained with dirt and singe marks, and her spear flecked rusty brown with dried blood.

"Sorry about that- had a change of plans," he said sheepishly, not able to stop himself from looking briefly over in Niles' direction.

She chuckled to herself and brushed her sleeve off. It was something of a futile effort, but it seemed to satisfy her nonetheless.

"I know we are constantly on borrowed time with this mission of ours, but..." Mathias looked around at the tired faces surrounding him. "I think we may have to wait to prepare for Notre Sagesse until tomorrow."

Azura nodded, handing her spear for him to hold before opening a portal to the astral plane. The eternally balmy night sky on the other side was a stark contrast to the display of carnage at their backs.


	4. No Rest for the Well-Intentioned

(A/N:) Content warnings for this chapter are for animal death, descriptions of dead things, food, minor ableist language, bare chests, mentions of violence and past abuse, and minor suggestive language.

* * *

The healing magic emanating from Elise's staff started to fade in small wisps as she lowered her hand, inspecting her work. She had not said a word since she had started working on Mathias' arm, dark lines shadowing her child-like features.

Not wanting to disrupt her concentration, Mathias had elected to be as silent and still as possible during the process.

He wondered whether she was always this quiet when she was mending wounds, it seemed so out of character for someone so transparent with her emotions. Elise laughed when she was happy, and cried when she was sad, and that was that. But when she was attending to each soldier after their battle, she worked with a quick and practiced hand, and spoke very little.  
When Mathias had unraveled the bandage on his shoulder for her in the privacy of his quarters she had only said something about doing her best to make it painless before starting her work and becoming withdrawn from him. It was worrying to see his sister so serious around him, but she clearly knew what she was doing.

True to her word, the mending process was much smoother than the first aid that Niles had provided him with. Though to his credit, it had definitely served its purpose when Mathias had needed it most. He would have to relay the retainer's good work to his brother when they were reunited.

"Hey Elise, can I sit up now? It feels a lot better," he said, breaking the heavy atmosphere hanging over his room. Her eyes shot up from the healing wound and whatever spell was over her demeanor seemed to lift.

"Huh? Oh yeah! The scar might not totally go away, but just don't strain that arm too much for a few days and it should heal fine."

He grinned and tapped his chin. "Hrmmm...I don't know if I can promise that, Doctor Elise."

She looked at him, slightly worried. "Why not?"

"Because I absolutely, positively need to do this!" he declared and swept her up in a soul-crushing bear hug.

She was definitely right about the arm. He could feel the tender muscle around his shoulder strain significantly when he lifted her up, but he resisted wincing in discomfort when he sat how much Elise seemed to relax, her face returning to its bright, bubbly smile as she hugged him back tightly, pressing her forehead against his chest.

Mathias put his sister back down as both siblings' laughter faded. She looked up to him and pouted, punching his other arm lightly.  
"I'm super serious about that shoulder, big bro! You'd better stay off of it for a few days or so help me!"

"I promise, I promise," he assured her as he ruffled her hair and threw on a loose shirt. "Thank you Elise, you're the best. Say, I can think of someone who's probably dying to see you since we got back to the astral plane."

She gasped and put a hand over her mouth. "Omigosh-I totally forgot about Camilla!" She darted toward the door but turned around bouncing up and down as her huge pigtails flopped at her sides. "Will you be okay by yourself, Mathias?"

He waved his hand and chuckled. "Psh, don't worry about me, Elise, I'm fine. Go and give your sister an even bigger hug than I gave you- that's an order, young lady."

"Yessir!" she exclaimed, and all but flew out the door.

The familiar, oppressive silence of his room returned as Elise's bright presence faded. Glad to be exhausted for once, Mathias immediately fell into his bed, preventing his anxious mind from filling the empty space of the treehouse with the suffocating memories of the day's events.

* * *

Though there was no new blood to be spilled, the second day in Port Dia was almost as unpleasant as the first. The army had been fortunate enough to have the astral plane to escape to when things had started to fester overnight, though it became clear to the locals slowly leaving their homes early the next morning that the morning sun this late in the year was wholly unforgiving on rotting flesh.

Azura was the first to step out of the portal, and the first to inhale the heavy, acrid stench hanging over the docks. The others followed suit behind her with little fanfare and awaited their orders, though most knew what was going to be asked of them, and were simply dreading the moment that they would have to collect the offending bodies and dispose of them in some manner. Not a moment after Mathias had stepped out of the portal, a stout, sun-kissed woman of aging years walked toward the group and barked directly at the prince to speak with her.

He hurried to meet her and rushed through his formalities before she pointed to the docks and shouted at him. From where Azura was standing, she could only see him bowing his head in a gesture of apology as she pointed aggressively at the docks and looked back at him as though he was an idiot.  
From what she could observe, the woman appeared to be some official in Dia, likely the reagent or mayor, and she had bags under her eyes that matched those under half of their own troops.

Lady Camilla's shorter, creepier retainer, Beruka, walked up next to Azura and crossed her arms. "Why are we still in this shithole? I thought the reason Lady Camilla, Selena, and I were needed here was because completing the mission swiftly was paramount."

"It is-" Azura rebuked, but she paused, trying to phrase her words carefully around the assassin. She was not known for her empathetic personality, or for…any personality, for that matter, if her cold, precise movement on the battlefield was any indication.  
"We are working on thin resources and a fragile reputation. I'd imagine that Mathias is simply assuring Dia that an army that currently represents more than half of the Nohrian royal family is concerned with the town's continued wellbeing."

"So the people care about their lieges playing cleaning duty now? Curious," Beruka responded flatly.

Azura honestly could not tell if the woman was being sarcastic or not. "Tell me Beruka, how do you dispose of the unpleasant remains after you have executed one of your…marks? After you have followed Lady Camilla into a fierce battle? Do you think that everything just magically disappears?"

To that, Beruka smirked slightly and looked up at Azura from under her black headband. "I never stay around long enough to find out, Lady Azura."

Azura felt a shiver run up her spine at the thought of the trails of bodies that other royals may have left scattered in the fields of the Nohrian heartland for the sake of following King Garon's orders swiftly and efficiently. She wondered if Hoshido had done the same as the frequency of fighting went on. It left a bad taste in her mouth.

Before Azura could respond to the retainer, however, Mathias made his way toward her with a glowering expression. Beruka took the hint and walked away, resuming her stance glued to Camilla's side. The sight of the tiny woman next to her practically amazonian master would have been amusing to Azura if she had not personally seen the carnage that each woman could cause on the battlefield separately, let alone together.

"Well?" she asked expectantly.

Mathias sighed and ran his hand through his hair, looking at her with tired eyes. Azura wondered offhandedly if he knew how habitually he performed the gesture.

"The mayor is uh, not pleased with the state of affairs. Apparently she caught wind of the statement by Takumi's forces that they would pass through peacefully and blames us for the several days halt in trade." Mathias looked back to the town. "And for the damages caused by our troops holding the line at the end of the square."

She furrowed her brow. "We wouldn't have won if you didn't command us to use the town as cover like that."

"Doesn't matter to her. The mayor of a merchant port has no reason to care about the implications of letting Hoshido breeze past her land and galavant through the rest of the Nohrian countryside."

"That seems to be an…undesirable trait for a person who acts as a voice between her people and the Nohrian royal family," she mused.

Mathias looked back at her, apparently surprised at her statement. "I don't know how much you remember from when you were a child, Azura, but it's been like this for awhile- individual territories are angry with the lack of resources and support they can get from the capital and start trying to become as autonomous as possible without getting punished for treason." Mathias shrugged. "Or at least, I've heard as much in bits of conversations I can hear between my siblings when they return from their own campaigns."

He pinched the bridge of his nose. "I don't really appreciate that woman putting me through the ringer like that, but I can't say I blame her much. She's just trying to look out for her own, and I'm sure it's difficult for father to keep supporting and controlling parts of Nohr this far from the people can't be left with our obtrusive mess just because they were trying to stay out of all this."

"I suppose that's the drawback of having such a small force. No one but us to do the dirty work, am I right?" he sighed.

Azura pursed her lips, "You're certainly not wrong."

"I believe if we try our hardest to help the locals today and just bend to the mayor's wishes for now, they will be much more inclined to get us supplies and a ferry out of here posthaste."

She laughed quietly to herself and looked at the tired face in front of her. No matter how difficult people were with him, Mathias always seemed to believe the best in others. She was not sure if it was a good trait for a leader who was constantly at the other end of a blade, but at times it seemed to be the only constant thread holding all of them together. More and more, Azura felt her control of the tide's direction slipping, subject to the waves looming over their cause that pushed and pulled everyone against their will. She was grateful for her friend's inexhaustible reserve of faith in others, even if it was sometimes misplaced.

"It seems we have little choice, my friend," she responded, nodding encouragingly at him before he addressed the troops.

* * *

Mathias would be lying to himself if he thought the rest of the day would be pleasant, though nothing could have prepared him for the volume of work needed. Waves of heat from the midmorning sun could be seen radiating off the dock as flies started to gather around the scattered carcasses. The members of the army that he had assigned to collecting bodies and digging mass graves had said nothing to object to his orders, but did not try to hide their glowering faces in front of him. Apparently this type of dirty work was not normally expected from anyone in the group of skilled warriors.

Fortunately, Lilith had promised him "something to boost morale", as she put it, for their return in the evening, and he had told the rest of the army as much. It seemed a bit childish to be offering grown, battle-hardened soldiers a surprise in order to get them to do unpleasant tasks, but there was no time or resources to hire people for grunt work, and they desperately needed Dia's ferries running as soon as possible. It at least peaked some interest when he had mentioned it to the others, and he had to admit that he, himself was pretty curious.

Not wanting to risk losing his breakfast in front of others, Mathias elected to find the handful of people removing shattered glass and wood from between the streets near the town square. He tied the front of his cloak over his mouth and nose as he walked around a few carcasses, his eyes watering and his stomach objecting loudly.

Trying to get past the carnage as swiftly as possible, he almost didn't see Silas, standing stiff as a board and looking down at a dead horse with a blank expression on his face. Mathias placed a hand on his shoulder, and the knight jumped before meeting eyes with his concerned friend.

"It's bad, I know, but we have to keep at it if we want to get this over with as quickly as possible," he said, squeezing Silas' shoulder gently.

"Sorry, Mathias, I'll get back to it in a second its just…" Silas drew a shaky breath. "I had hoped that when I couldn't find Dain last night after the battle that she would just be grazing near where you and I were doing inventory yesterday."

Mathias looked down at the beast, its neck as contorted and its eyes were wide and glassy. He would not have recognized it as Silas' steed if he hadn't pointed it out. Silas had talked about going through cavalier and knight training with Dain on numerous occasions, often spending his free hours after their friendly sparring sessions brushing her mane or scratching behind her ears.

Mathias sighed. "Oh Silas, I'm so sorry. She was a good horse,"

"Don't worry about it, Mathias," he responded quickly, rubbing one of his eyes and clearing his throat. "I suppose I should just be glad that it wasn't one of our troops. We got out pretty easy yesterday given how outnumbered we were."

"She was one of the troops, Silas. I don't think 'easy' exists in our world, but I think she would be happy to know that you're thinking of her."

Silas nodded silently, unable to meet Mathias' eyes.

"When we get back to the astral plane, why don't we find some flowers to lay for her in that glade you liked to ride her around, near the lower canals?"

"I'd really like that, Mathias, thank you." Silas said, sniffing a few times before clearing his throat and squaring his shoulders.  
"This needs to be uh, taken care of, would you mind helping me find a place to bury her?"

He removed his hand from Silas' shoulder. "N-not at all, lets find her a nice spot."  
He couldn't say no to such a simple request, not from Silas, who had been such a stalwart ally and a dear friend despite Mathias' failure to even remember him upon their reunion.

Steeling himself, Mathias lifted the heavy body with Silas on the other side, and they slowly shuffled toward a small cliff overlooking the harbor.

* * *

The sun hung low in the sky when at last the army reconvened, sweaty and tired. The town was larger and more damaged than Mathias had originally thought, and there was unfortunately little prospect of leaving Dia for good until the next morning.

Nevertheless, it looked a sight better now than it did that morning, and the mayor was true to her word. She assured him that she would prepare a ferry for them and preload any supplies that they could spare, which as Mathias found out, were not many.

After he had helped Silas, Mathias was ready to wash himself of the affair, both mentally and physically, though there was little chance of him admitting this to the poor man. He had definitely had to empty his stomach once or twice while Silas had his back turned, and he doubted he would forget the smell for a long time. With luck, their subsequent confrontations would be less grisly, and he wouldn't need to face that particular weakness of his any longer than necessary. He doubted that he would get that lucky.

With plans to wash himself in the edge of the canals, Mathias was eager to follow Azura into the astral portal. But as he stepped onto the grounds, his eye was caught by a building that had appeared in a previously empty space on the castle green. It appeared flat and square in shape, and billows of steam were rising gently from the top. As he got closer he realized that it was, of all things, a hot spring.

He would definitely have to give Lilith something a bit better to eat than bread after this for erecting something so…extravagant.

The army filed through the portal and started making a beeline for the baths as soon as they realized what the surprise was. Some were all but removing their armor as they tried to get there first, and Mathias found himself having to yell after them to avoid any altercations between tired, grumpy, and fully armed soldiers that had probably never needed a bath more in their lives.

"One gender at a time please! And for gods' sake, properly remove your armor before trying to enter the facility!" he shouted with futility behind them.

Deciding that experiencing the baths was likely a fool's errand for at least the next hour or so, Mathias walked toward the mess hall to get a loaf of bread if he could find one handy. Felicia saw him walk in the opposite direction of the rest of the army and ran up to meet his gait.

"Lord Mathias, don't you want to be the first to jump in? It looks divine!" Felicia sighed with a dreamy look on her face.

"They all deserve to use the hot springs after all I've been putting them through," he responded, looking at the maid's tired frame. "You should join them, Felicia, you've had a long couple of days."

Felicia shook her head. "I'll get more peace of mind knowing you're taken care of then anything a bath can do for me." She declared, but couldn't resist sniffing the underside of her sleeve. "Why, do you think I need one?"

Mathias shrugged. "Couldn't hurt." Felicia scowled at him with her big blue puppy eyes, clearly offended. "Oh, don't give me that look, Fel, we all need one right about now. I'm just hungry is all, don't you worry, I'm taking one as well, soon as all the fuss has died down." he rolled his eyes. "And when the person on kitchen duty for dinner realizes that they still have a job to do and an army to feed."

Felicia made a noise of annoyance. "I should find whomever it is and drag them out of the baths myself. We're still in the military here, we have jobs to do."

Mathias walked through the mess hall doors and ran a hand through his hair. "Honestly, I'm too tired to care right now. Camilla was likely the first to get into the water, she'll be there to keep anyone from slacking off too long."

Felicia smiled to herself. She had drawn countless hot baths for Lord Mathias' oldest sister back at the Northern Fortress, and was well aware of her affinity for pretty much any body of hot water.

Mathias reached behind the kitchen counter and grabbed a baguette, shoving one end in his face. There was no point in putting on airs in front of someone like Felicia. She had seen him at his best and at his worst, and never seemed to judge him for the discrepancy in either side of his personality.  
If only she didn't try to take his burdens as his own, he might have confined his doubts in his family's, and his own methods for leading a war.  
Perhaps then, they might still be together, like they were during their lonely days in the confines of the fortress. But much had changed, and Mathias had slowly discovered how self-destructive she could be in caring for others. He was now to just be her close friend, and trust her to have his back in the ensuing battles.

After a few minutes of talking about this and that, Mathias finally ordered the maid to take a break and enjoy the baths. She pretended to leave slowly after she agreed, but was basically running toward the hot springs as soon as she thought he couldn't see her anymore. He watched her bemusedly from the kitchen window and continued to rip sections of the bread off with his teeth.

After he finished, he decided to walk the parameter of the castle, stopping only to leave Lilith with some candies that he had been saving for himself at some point.  
As he came back to his treehouse, the sun had long since set, and there was only a sliver of soft blue light left skirting the horizon. He suddenly realized how swollen his left arm was starting to feel under his armor and he gingerly removed his chest piece and arm guards. The wound was definitely healing quickly, a testament to Elise's skill as a healer, but it still surged with pain whenever he put on or removed his armor. He flexed his fingers, trying to circulate the blood throughout his arm, but it was just too sore from lifting debris all day.

Perhaps he should make a bath a priority before it was too far past regular sleeping hours. He would likely regret shirking the opportunity to give his body some respite before he had to prepare for whatever faced him in Notre Sagesse.

With that, he grabbed a towel from his small pile of clean linens and went down the stairs.

To his surprise, the bathhouse was completely empty. It had certainly shown signs of being heavily used just hours before, but the water nevertheless looked inviting, and he shed his tunic and leggings, folding them neatly on a bench in the far corner and draping his towel on top of a fountain close to the edge of the water.  
He dipped a foot in the water, and lowered the rest of his body in slowly, taking care not to let the heat of the water rush too quickly over his shoulder.  
Finally, he submerged himself completely and leaned on the edge of the pool, a groan of satisfaction escaping his lips before he could catch himself, but there was no one around and he could not remember the last time something had felt so good on his skin.

He had to admit, Lilith really had pulled all the stops on this one. ' _Not a minute too soon as well_ ,' he thought grimly.

Mathias leaned his head on the back of one of the pillars on the edge of the spring, tilting his gaze upward at the open air above him. A cool breeze tickled his face, and his breathing started slowing down, becoming more even in time to the distant sound of crickets chirping. His eyelids became heavy, and his tense, belabored muscles slowly released, allowing his sore body to completely relax.

* * *

The next thing he felt was something cold and annoying pounding on his forehead in an even rhythm. It felt like beads of cold water, and although it should have been a minor annoyance, it was becoming increasingly hard to ignore. He stirred and instinctively wiped his forehead, letting his hand drift back into the pool. As his arm sank into the water, his fingers brushed against a hairy stretch of skin, and he shot his head up in alarm.

He smacked his face against a wet towel hanging inches above his head and yelped in shock, jumping back into the column and hitting the back of his neck.

"SONUVABITCH," Mathias blurted out clutching his head and clenching his teeth. Scanning the premises with a venomous glare, he found Niles as the offending party. His shoulders were shaking from silent laughter and his shit-eating grin was bleached white by the pale moonlight.

"How did you think that might be appropriate behavior?!" Mathias barked, still shaken by the sudden, painful disruption to his alone time.

Niles gradually controlled his laughter, clearing his throat a few times before answering. "Nyx begrudgingly let me borrow one of her books on ancient torture- fascinating stuff. I read one about dropping water repeatedly on a detainee's forehead until they loose it completely. Thought I'd see if it was true." he shrugged. "Granted, it usually requires them to be completely tied down, we make do with what we can with less than ideal conditions, right milord?"

Mathias stayed silent, waiting for a better explanation. It didn't come.

"You seemed immobile enough just laying there defenseless, I couldn't help myself," Niles rationalized.

Mathias stopped hyperventilating from the shock, but his blood was still boiling, and he narrowed his eyes. More than anything he just wanted to clock the man right in the middle of his smug face, but he knew Niles well enough now that it would be exactly what he wanted- a chance to challenge and dominate whatever dynamic was forming between the two of them on his antagonistic terms.

Mathias had already lost his cool once and refused to allow the outlaw the satisfaction.

Niles was stretched out in the pool, one hand resting on the sopping wet towel that he had tormented Mathias with and the other dangling in the warm water. His arm was almost touching Mathias' despite the fact that he had plenty of room to claim his own section of the hot spring.  
Having spent more than a few times in royal baths with his siblings, it wasn't the proximity to a next-to-naked man that was preventing him from being at ease, but now that he wasn't immediately alarmed, his eyes trailed toward the streaks of colorless, scarred flesh that covered Niles' muscular frame. They told a grisly story that stretched across his body, and left Mathias with a pit in his stomach that he couldn't quite shake. The white, damaged skin was a stark contrast to the deep, tan complexion that the man boasted, the only other break in his color at his neckline and hands, which had clearly seen more sun than the rest of him, but only extenuated the ochre color of the less frequently exposed parts of his body.

Mathias swallowed hard, wondering how his mouth went dry when he had been sitting in the steam of the baths for at least an hour.

His wandering eyes did not go past Niles' attention, and he not-so-subtly inched closer to the prince, his uncovered eye darkening with an almost predatory interest.  
Mathias instantly became aware of his embarrassingly obvious ogling and submerged himself under the water, allowing the hot water to sting his face.  
The loud hum of the fountain hitting the surface of the water, filling his ears and his flustered mind. He drifted around around slowly and resurfaced father away, but not far enough to make it blatantly obvious that he was retreating in embarrassment, though he doubted that anything he did escaped the outlaw's attention with only the two of them in the bathhouse.

"I'm curious to know how you and Felicia got on yesterday," he said in an attempt to break the tense, stifling air resting over the open bathhouse. "I know it seemed like an odd pairing, but I have noticed that she has a similar speed to your own when she's in the heat of battle,"

Niles tilted his head and crossed his legs. "The maid? Yeah, she's a real piece of work-"

"Bold words, coming from you," Mathias interrupted, unable to stop himself from defending his friend.

Niles snorted. "Touché. Anyway, if his benevolence will let me answer his damn question, she was much more competent in battle then I gave her credit for. You're a sly dog for keeping her close, I knew that ditzy shtick of hers was a facade," the mischievous glint in Niles' uncovered eye returned. "Makes me think about what else she's hiding. Perhaps other 'skills' of hers that can be utilized," he mused.

Mathias relaxed a bit, raising an eyebrow in amusement at the thought of Felicia as a femme fatale. "I agree that she's a threat on the battlefield, but I don't know how you could have come to the conclusion that my maid is secretly some kind of wily temptress. Frankly the image of you trying to seduce my chambermaid is absolutely hilarious."

Niles sneered in response. "Oh, so she keeps that side of herself even hidden from her liege? Clever girl. Well then, I'll let you in on a little secret, because I'm in a good mood tonight." Niles leaned his head in toward Mathias. "Before I came here, she ' _accidentally_ ' spilled tea all over my pants as she was leaving the mess hall, and offered to give me something special as an apology the next time I saw her."

Now it was Mathias' turn to laugh. He stood up in the shallow water and leaned his good arm against a pillar, his other hand on his knee. "Oh Fel…" he mumbled bemusedly to himself, shaking his head.

Niles blinked, growing annoyed at the prince's response.

"Let me venture a guess, did she say that it would ' _taste like heaven_?'" Mathias didn't wait for an answer, the man's face told him all he needed to know.  
"She's talking about cookies, Niles. She makes them for me every time she ruins any of my clothes, which is often," Mathias snickered.

Niles' eyebrow twitched and he pressed his lips into a thin line. "You don't know that," he grumbled. If Mathias didn't know any better, he could almost see a twinge of embarrassment reddening his cheeks.

"Trust me when I say that I really, really do." Mathias said. Leaning on the pillar, he paused and softened his expression, sighing deeply. "If you don't trust me, Niles, that's fine. I won't force you to be best friends with your commanding officer, but can you at least extend some trust to my friends? To the rest of the army? Not everyone around you has an ulterior motive, you know, maybe if you give them a chance, you'll find that you actually enjoy being liked by others."

If the look of pity on the prince's face wasn't enough to anger Niles, the sincerity of his patronizing advice set him over the edge. He tossed the wet towel behind him and stood up, walking over to where Mathias was. The prince tensed as Niles approached him with a steely, terrifying glare.  
The darkness in the man's eye was not the playful lust that Mathias had seen on his face more than once, but a look that told him, loud and clear, that he was not to be toyed with on someone else's terms.  
Niles put an arm on the column, leaving Mathias with no more room to back up, trapping him on the side of his weaker arm. The prince's expressive ruby eyes widened and tried to appear unfazed, but Mathias could tell that the retainer was trained to spot minute expressions of weakness, and reduce others to cornered animals. Suddenly his role as a retainer to his brother, Leo, became a lot clearer.

Niles smiled widely, baring his teeth in a crooked grin. Though he was not touching Mathias, he may as well have had him tied to the wooden pillar. The taut muscles on the prince's pale torso gave away his shallow breathing, and he found himself paralyzed under the outlaw's hard gaze.

"Tell me, milord, why do you trust people?" he whispered in a low voice.

Mathias startled at the words. He had found himself expecting Niles to do something to hurt him in the heat of the moment. Angry at himself for assuming the worst, he scrambled his thoughts together to answer the man's question.  
"I- I don't know," he said in a cracked voice. He cleared his throat. "I suppose I just feel like people, no matter what they've done deserve a chance at trust. If someone hasn't done me wrong, why shouldn't I show them that I trust them?"

Niles laughed dryly. "I knew you'd say some smarmy shit like that. Your kind take more than just a silver spoon for granted. Trust is nothing but a luxury reserved for people who never had it used against them," Niles put his arm on the other side of the pillar, completely trapping Mathias and looming over him despite their relatively even heights. "Bear that in mind next time you get your smallclothes in a twist over making sure everyone gets along like peaches and cream in this damn place," he growled.

Mathias crossed his arms, straightening his posture to meet Niles' gaze. "And have you ever even tried?"

"Gods, you really are thick, aren't you?" Niles muttered to himself. He removed one of his arms from the column and reached for the back of his head, pulling loose the knot on the back of his eyepatch and lifting it off his face.

Mathias flinched before he could stop himself. The space where Niles' other eye should have been was discolored and shriveled, and streaks of scarred tissue extended out from the old wound as if something sharp had struck the side of his face multiple times. The muscle around it was just slack enough to show nothing, not even a blind eye, in the cavity.

"If I hadn't learned my lesson after that," Niles pointed to another deep scar across his torso. "Or this," He pulled down the side of his smallclothes to reveal another scar that trailed up his inner thigh and ended all the way at the right side of his pubic bone. "Or hey, maybe this?"

He snapped his underwear back in place.

"Then I'd be pretty godsdamned stupid, or more likely, I'd be dead. But hey, ideals and handholding is more important than learning to survive, right? Or have you never had the pleasure of being stabbed-" Niles drew his face closer to Mathias'  
"viciously..."  
their faces were inches away.  
"-and repeatedly..."  
his lips brushed lightly on Mathias' ear. The prince inhaled sharply.  
"in the back?"

Niles waited for a response, and none came.  
"Ha. I didn't think so."

"How did-" Mathias started, holding an arm near Niles' eye, before retracting it gingerly.

""How did they take my eye?" Niles finished, refusing to let the question go. He shook his head. "That's hardly fair, I gave you a full-body tour of my little nicks and scratches, you have to tell me how you got that lovely little facial decoration, " he said, pantomiming the prince's noticeable facial scar by drawing a horizontal line across his own face from cheek to cheek.

Mathias averted his gaze and looked down at his hands. They were cold despite having been submerged in the hot water until just a few minutes before. "I'm sorry…I don't actually remember."  
Niles rolled his eye. "Of course you don't. Well then, once again, I have nothing else to get out of our little exchanges, unless you have something else to show me," he purred, peering down at Mathias' smallclothes under the water.

Mathias crossed his arms again, regaining some of his guardedness as he frowned at the retainer. "As much as this may baffle you, Niles, I find someone insulting me and pinning me to a wall to be something of a nonstarter."

"Well, that makes one of us, I suppose. Disappointing." Niles trailed off, scratching his chin.

Mathias did not want to let the other man end their conversation in such a way, leaving him once again looking like an idiot. At least he knew one way to keep him from becoming completely disinterested.  
"At least...not until I know them well enough, that is," Mathias added just loud enough for the other man to hear, cocking an eyebrow.

Niles tilted his head and chuckled deeply. "Oh, is that a fact? Alas, milord, as incredibly tempting as that sounds, I don't think think I have much more patience, or really any need to continue our little heart-to-heart chats."

Mathias frowned. Perhaps Niles assumed that he had nothing that the outlaw didn't have or couldn't get himself. Honestly, he wasn't sure himself, and if Niles had his way, it appeared that neither of them would ever know.  
"I'll admit that makes me a bit sad. I won't force you to spend time with me, or anyone in the army, for that matter, but I was hoping that we could become friends." He removed himself from under Niles and pulled himself out of the water. "Though if you find me 'too simple' for you, then I suppose there's nothing I can do to change that." Mathias started drying himself off. "Now, if you would excuse me, I believe spending as much time as I have in these baths has given me a bit of a headache."

"There is one thing about you that continues to elude my understanding milord," Niles called over his shoulder from the water.

"Oh, wonderful." Mathias' sarcasm was muffled somewhat by talking though a towel covering most of his face. "Should I even ask what that might be?"

"If you don't get turned on by me cajoling you constantly then why the fell do you even bother trying to be chummy with me? If I have shown some sort of interest that is not purely superficial, then by all means, enlighten me, because I'm at a loss here, and I'd sure like to correct my behavior to avoid any future misconceptions."

A thoughtful look reflected in Mathias' eyes as he put his tunic on, before he finally answered. "Lets just say that my experiences, as limited as they seem to be, have forced me more than once to find where kindness lies in others, even when it is not seen or rewarded."

"Touching. Have fun finding someone to wax poetic to at this time of the night, because you're falling on deaf ears here."

Mathias slid his leggings on and started walking out the door, but he stopped and looked directly at Niles.

"I know that you are a good person, Niles, I've seen it myself, and I trust Leo's judgment more than my own. I don't really understand why you don't want anyone to know, but you clearly have your reasons."

Niles despite himself, could not help but allow his indignant confusion to show on his face. He felt nauseous, but he'd be damned if he gave the kid some sort of idea that his words would leave a lasting impression on him.

"Relax, your secret is safe with me," Mathias said with an infuriating grin. Was he _mocking_ him?

Niles looked vaguely like he wanted to strangle him for remembering, and using his own words against him.

"Well, if you ever decide that I am worth your time, you know where to find me. I thank you for sharing your concerns with me, and I will definitely think over your words. Otherwise, I guess we can both agree we have nothing to talk about. Good night Niles," Mathias said as he walked into the night.

As he walked toward his room, Mathias' hand hovered over to his newly scarred shoulder and ran his thumb over the fabric covering it. He felt like he had much to learn from the retainer, and was disappointed in knowing that he would likely be avoiding him from then on, but he was a commander, and he had to respect his army's wishes.

' _Can't win them all, Mathias, you know damn well you have more important things to focus on_.'


End file.
